FEEDING GER SASSER -Crossfit/ GRID Athletes like Ger Sasser need big fuel and people were always asking me what I feed Ger, my son. (5 time Crossfit Regionals athlete, San Francisco Fire GRID athlete, and owner/trainer of CROSSFIT COUNTDOWN, along with his wife, Cassie) I love to come up with delicious, simple, mostly paleo diet meal plans and share them, so others can have success in the kitchen. These easy Crossfit diet meal plan recipes can make a big difference in your performance.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

If you love bacon wrapped dates, you'll probably love these little babies. They are even better than you might think, and they are so easy. I am glad Ger asked for these.

I cut a package of bacon in half with scissors.
I peeled and cut 4 organic bananas into pieces the size of a date. (maybe 5-6 pieces in a banana, depending on its size.)
I put parchment paper on a baking sheet.
I wrapped each banana piece in a half-piece of bacon and placed it on the baking sheet with the end of the bacon tucked under. (so they wouldn't unwrap... if yours are stubborn, use toothpicks)

I put them into a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Then, the bacon seemed to need 3 minutes under the broiler. (Yours might be ok. I think it would depend on the bacon... this was thick and right off the farm!)

I have wrapped a lot of things in bacon for this blog and to feed Ger Sasser.....I'll be doing this again very very soon!

Friday, February 21, 2014

Load up your barbell. But first, load up on vegetables, every way you can. Here's a very tasty way to do just that.

I rubbed coconut oil on 2 small pans. (You can, of course, use 1 baking sheet)

I used a spoon to remove the gills from the underside of 4 big portobello mushrooms. I also removed the stems.
I melted 1 TBSP coconut oil. I rubbed this on both sides of the mushroom caps and laid them top side down on the pans.

In a small skillet over medium heat I put:
1 TBSP coconut oil
1 organic carrot, sliced
I let the carrot cook 2-3 minutes before adding the other ingredients, to give it time to soften some.

I seasoned this mixture with:
1 1/2 tsp Cherry Wood Smoked Sea Salt (salttraders.com)
black pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 TBSP minced garlic (garlicgold.com)
2 TBSP coconut cream concentrate (coconut butter) OPTIONAL, but this thickens it up so nicely
1 1/2 cups Organic Butternut Squash Soup (You can also food-process a little butternut squash and add a little chicken stock if you have time, but the boxed organic soup isn't too bad...but compare labels since some of them have canola oil in them...but the good boxed soups are fast and delicious for this recipe!)
I drained the carrots and celery and added them to the skillet.

I stirred now and then while letting it cook about 15 more minutes, with the lid on, over low heat, just blend the flavors and soften the stew meat.

Monday, February 10, 2014

So, Coach Cindy said I should paleo-ize a "Pollo Linguine." She said she'd been doing it, with spaghetti squash instead of noodles, of course. Oh, Cindy, thanks for the deliziosa idea! We are loving this stuff!

First, I had Ger cut a spaghetti squash in half for me. I scooped out the stringy stuff and the seeds and laid them cut-side-down in a 9 x 12 pan with a half-inch of water. I put that into a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes. While that was cooking.....

I cut 6 organic chicken breasts into big bite-sized pieces and added them to the skillet, turning until done. (You can make it with 4 if that will feed your crew.) While the chicken was cooking, I added a clove of crushed fresh garlic and 1 tsp basil.

I added 1 8 oz container of sliced baby bella mushrooms and 2 cups fresh broccoli and saute for a couple of minutes.

I turned the heat to low.
Next, I checked on my spaghetti squash by sticking a fork into it. It was done, so I poured off the water and scraped the spaghetti squash with a fork. I added this to the skillet and stirred.

I beat 2 eggs with a fork in a measuring cup and then added it to the skillet, stirring until it had a bit of a creamy consistency and gave the egg a little time to cook.

I turned off the heat and added 1 10 oz container of cherry tomatoes, cut in half, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, and sea salt and pepper, to taste, and stirred thoroughly. (but it needed more salt than I thought it would...)

WE ALL LOVED IT!!! Seriously, share this recipe with your friends and family.

I've been a little addicted to the app Waterlogue. Lisbeth Darsh warned me.....

Thursday, February 6, 2014

These layered little babies might be nice for a Valentine paleo dessert. I know I'll be making them again very soon.
I put 12 cupcake liners in a cupcake pan.

I put a big skillet with a little water on the stove over medium low heat. (If you have a double boiler, you could use that instead.) I placed a corning ware dish in the water and added the following ingredients so that they could heat up and blend slowly:

I stirred this up and put a heaping TBSP into each cupcake liner. I pushed this mixture down a little in each one so that it covered the bottom. I put the cupcake pan into the fridge so that this layer could harden while I worked on the next.

I rinsed the corning ware dish so I could just use it again for the coconut layer. It DOES need to be in the skillet of water again! I added the following ingredients into this dish:

When this mixture was melted and blended, I removed the corning ware dish from the heat and added 2 cups unsweetened coconut chips (the big chunky stuff) and stirred until well blended. Because it was warm, it softened the coconut. Yum......

I took the cupcake pan out of the fridge and added the coconut mixture layer onto the cocoa layer.
Then I put it back into the fridge for a few minutes, until set.

The last "layer" was 24 dark chocolate chips and 1 tsp coconut oil, melted and stirred. I drizzled it over the top of each of the 12 little desserts evenly.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

This paleo pizza is rustic and spinachy. The only protein is in the eggs, 3 in the paleo crust and 1 in the spinach mixture. I point this out so you can decide if this is enough for you, or if you want to add your favorite protein to it.
So, the crust is my concoction you may have tried before with my "Paleo Pizza with Sun Dried Peppers and Bacon." This is what I did:

Then I whisked in the wet ingredients:3 eggs3 TBSP olive oil (or macadamia oil)1/2 cup organic coconut milk from a can

I spread this gooey mixture on parchment paper on a cookie sheet with a rubber spatula.I baked this in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. (Then I turned the oven down to 350 degrees...)While the crust was baking, I put less than 1/4 cup olive oil in a skillet over medium low heat. It was probably 6 TBSP. ( 1/4 cup is 8 TBSP)I added a 10 oz container of organic baby spinach to the skillet, a couple of handfuls at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon until all the spinach was cooked down and covered. I added 5 pieces of sun dried tomatoes and 4 shitake mushrooms, chopped to the spinach mixture.Next, I took the skillet off the heat and added:1 TBSP coconut milk1 eggI stirred this up and then tipped the skillet so that the most of the liquid would run to the low end of the skillet. ( I didn't want too much moisture on the crust from this mixture.When the crust was done, I added the spinach mixture over the top of the crust. I sprinkled 1 TBSP minced garlic, 1 tsp smoked sea salt, and several cherry tomatoes, chopped, over the top. The pizza went into a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.Sometimes I shave a little KerryGold cheese, from grass-fed cows, over one end of the pizza, for Isaac.